New Challengers #1

The Challengers of the Unkown are a property that has experienced great success since its debut in the late 1950’s. In fact, many of the top talent in comics grew up reading Challengers, but for the past two decades, the series has all but disappeared from the comics medium. Thankfully, this week The Challengers are back in New Challengers #1 from the team of Scott Snyder, Aaron Gillespie and Klaus Janson.

The series follows five strangers who are given a second chance at life, but only if they agree to execute deadly missions across the world and multiverse. Sounds pretty cool, right? This series is particularly exciting because it gives top-flight writer Scott Snyder a chance to spread his wings on a project other than Batman. Snyder has a knack for breathing life into characters who aren’t extremely popular, and his best work has come on relatively obscure properties. Snyder also collaborates well with other writers, and rising star Aaron Gillespie is a perfect co-pilot for this series. Art-wise, renowned inker Klaus Janson is tackling pencilling duty and it will be interesting to see how his style blends with Snyder and Gillespie’s script.

Ether: The Copper Golems #1

The original Ether series launched back in 2016 and managed to tell an engaging and at times psychedelic story, about an interdimensional adventurer that also featured great worldbuilding. In Ether: The Copper Golems #1 the story picks up when portals between Earth and the cosmic dimension Ether begin opening up, bringing with them devastating magical fury that only adventurer Boone Dias can stop.

While Dias has shown to be an engaging character in the past, the real selling point for this issue story-wise is the people Boone is teaming up with as they include a grumpy, spell-writing fairy; a bickering, lavender gorilla; and a bull-headed, motorcycling spell-hacker. Simply put, this is a great jumping on point for those new to the Ether mythos, and given the mystical properties of this book the possibilities for storytelling are all but limitless.

Gideon Falls #3

Gideon Falls has only had two issues released to date and it already stands out in the comic book landscape. The supernatural book by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino is full of unnerving panel layouts, grizzly murders, and otherworldly possessions that weave together to create one hell of an enthralling mystery.

The series follows two very different people, a paranoid city liver named Norton who collects trash that he believes connects to a grand mystery and Fred, a disgraced preacher looking to start again in a small town. Writer Jeff Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino have managed to make both characters three-dimensional while also building up the world around them. And while this book has previously featured on this list, it’s worth having on again because it’s something special. Do yourself a favour and get the first three issues of Gideon Falls as soon as possible, because this is a series that you’re going to want to be up to date on.

Flavor #1

The comic book industry has sorely lacked projects dealing with food in the past few years. While there have been a few series recently, like John Layman and Rob Guillory’s Chew, they have been few and far between, which makes this week’s Flavor #1 all the more enticing.

Written by Joe Keatinge and featuring art by Wook Jin Clark, Flavour #1 tells the story of an unlicensed chef in a Hunger Games based world, where chefs are the ultimate celebrities and food is the most prized commodity. It also promises to bring world-building similar to that of Studio Ghibli Co-founder Hayao Miyazaki which is an exciting notion. Not only that, but this book features bonus content by renowned food-scientist Ali Bouzari, who wrote the award-winning cookbook Ingredient: Unveiling the Essential Elements of Food. If you’re someone who loves food or fun adventures then Flavor #1 is definitely a book that you’ll want to check out.

Garfield: Vacation Time Blues #1

There’s something about Garfield the cat that has kept him relevant, even thirty-five years after his debut. Whether it’s his dry sense of humour, aversion to Mondays, or simply the fact that he’s a wonderful shade of orange, Garfield has continued to be a standout.

Garfield Vacation Time Blues #1 is an oversized and self-contained Garfield story that is part Jaws parody and part hard-look at Jon and Liz’s relationship. On the parody front, the premise of a lasagna monster is too tasty to pass up on and on the other front, seeing some actual relationship progress in Garfield is also an exciting possibility. Boom Studios has made good use of the Garfield property in the past and this issue promises to be a great read for both kids and adults alike.

Liked this article and want to read more like it? Check out Alex Handziuk’s interview with Archie Comics writer Ian Flynn and Brendan Frye’s interview with cover artist Michael Walsh.